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3                                                1

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Didn’t have to wait long to hear when the Penguins last lost three straight games. As soon as I got to my truck in the Mohegan Sun Arena parking lot, I heard play-by-play man Mike O’Brien say it. It was in November. Think about that. There are 30 teams in this league. Many have fans that I follow on Twitter that just accept losing. Losing three straight games are pretty standard in places like Hartford, Albany, Utica and others. Not Wilkes-Barre.

It’ll happen to every team. This weekend was the Penguins turn.

After getting Adam Payerl back from injury and Brian Gibbons and Jayson Megna back from NHL duty, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins go 0-for-3 on the weekend with a 3-1 loss to the Hershey Bears.

I can accept this loss more than I can the losses this weekend to Binghamton Friday and Hershey last night. The Pens were in it all the way to the third period, when there was no score.

Ex-Penguin Jeff Taffe broke the deadlock at 9:05 of the third on a nice tip of a Casey Wellman shot from the point. About four minutes later, with the Penguins needing the next goal, Ryan Potulny collects a cross ice pass and does not miss an open net for a 2-0 Bears lead. The Pens would get on the board with the Brian Gibbons Breakaway of the Game™ this time shorthanded and scored to put the Pens on the board and the deficit cut to one. But the Bears answered less than a minute later when Michael Latta draws Jeff Deslauriers out of his crease and passed to Peter Leblanc who scored to put it away for the Bears at 3-1. A huge answer goal by the Chocolate and White and all of the momentum was out of the building.

That last paragraph summed up the game. Jeff Deslauriers opposed David Leggio. Harry Zolnierczyk was a healthy scratch. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Tom Kuhnhackl were back in. Eric Hartzell seemed fine from last nights scare. He backed up and looked fine in warmups.

I can’t recall anything else memorable.

There stars were Brian Gibbons with a goal and +1, Jeff Taffe with a goal and +1 and Ryan Potulny with a goal.

We were the only game in the division. Binghamton, Norfolk and Syracuse were off.

Standings look like this: Binghamton 66 — Hershey 64 — Norfolk 62 — Penguins 61 — Syracuse 44

Conference: 1) Manchester with 75 points, Springfield in second with 69, Binghamton the division leader in the East with 66, the Bears in fourth with 64, Providence in fifth with 63, Norfolk sixth with 62. Penguins have 61 points in seventh and St. John’s in the eighth and final spot with 60 points.

Nine back is Albany with 60. Worcester is in tenth with 50 points. I don’t expect the Sharks or anyone behind them to make a push, but you never know. So it’s 9 teams for 8 spots in the middle of February.

The game in hand situation looks like this based on the Pens that have 52 games played. Division, Bingo and Noroflk have 2 games in hand. Hershey, Albany and St. John’s have one. Pens have a game in hand on Providence.

Wheeling played tonight and lost to Fort Wayne in Indiana 4-3. Denver Manderson had two assists.

Penguins haven’t posted the SendToNews Highlights. If or when they do, I will have a link.

President’s Day tomorrow. Do you have to work? I do. Anyway, the Week 20 AHL Power Rankings will be up at noon tomorrow in advance of the 1 p.m. games. Then the Pens play Binghamton Wednesday. If anything breaks between now and then I’ll have it on the blog.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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4                                         5

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If you were out tonight and didn’t pay attention to what went on tonight in Hershey for your Penguins and saw the score, a 5-4 loss for the Penguins, you probably think that it was a close game.

You couldn’t be more wrong, actually.

After scoring the first goal, a Bobby Farnham back door tap in in the first period, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins allow five straight goals, two on the power play, and get obliterated by the Bears who have won 12 straight at home.

Eric Hartzell left the game with either an injury, a cramp, or embarrassment in the third period, after giving up the fourth goal to Dane Byers, who crashed the net hard and appeared to kick the puck in. Initially it was waved off, but after review the goal stood.

Dustin Gazley is a stone in the shoe to the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. This 5’9, 154 pound pipsqueak has 8 AHL goals this season. 4 of them have come against the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins. He scored on both goaltenders tonight, Hartzell and Deslauriers and loves to play against the Penguins. You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.

After last night’s embarrassment in Binghamton, the Penguins made some line changes. Just the fourth line was left intact. Nick D’Agostino was in for Harrison Ruopp was the only lineup change for Coach John Hynes.

Eric Hartzell vs. Philipp Grubauer

First Period: All Penguins to start, who were rewarded with the Farnham goal. Brian Gibbons forced a turnover to Brendan Mikkelson who found Farnham cutting back door for the goal.

After the center ice face-off, all Hershey. No really. All Hershey.

Casey Welllman scored in the final minute on the power play to tie the game at one.

Second Period: Dustin Gazley scored :32 and the Bears ran away with it. Nine minutes of puck possession by the Chocolate and White. With :25 left, Ryan Potulny put in a rebound to make it 3-1 Bears.

Third Period: Pens open with early pop. Then Hartzell makes a save and goes down in a heap. Turns out it may have been a cramp or could have been more. Trainer Kyle Moore was oiut to attend to Hartzell who stayed in and got a fresh water bottle. He’s had issues this season with cramping.

Dane Byers crashes and the puck goes in. Initially the goal was waved off by referee Terry Koharski but after review the goal was allowed to stand and it was 4-1 Bears. Hartzell signaled to the bench that he was done. Enter Jeff Deslauriers. Ignoring the fights between Dane Byers and Bobby Farnham and Michael Latta and Spencer Machacek Dustin Gazley scored a power play goal that would end up being the game winner to make it 5-1 Hershey.

Pens would then get three quick goals. Nick Drazenovic even strength. Brian Gibbons on a 5-on-3 power play and Jayson Megna with Deslauriers pulled with :16 left. They never got equal.

Three Stars: 3) Casey Wellman (goal, assist, +1) 2) Dustin Gazley (two goals, +1) and 1) Dane Byers (goal, assist, +1)

Around the Division: Hide your eyes. Binghamton wins 8-0 at home against Worcester. The first shutout for the B-Sens this season. The Big B Machine is runnin’ wild on the Southern Tier….Norfolk beats Syracuse 2-1.

Standings: Binghamton 66 — Hershey 62 — Norfolk 62 — Penguins 61 — Syracuse 44

Conference: 1) MCH (73) 2) SPR (67) 3) BNG (66) 4) HER (62) 5) NOR (62) 6) WBS (61) 7) PRO (61) 8) ALB (60)

From 9 back you have St. John’s with 59 points, then Worcester with 50 at 10. Pens aren’t that bad, yet. But there are nine teams that can conceivably make playoffs at this point.

Wheeling Update: Nailers go eight rounds in a shootout with the Elmira Jackals and win 2-1. Peter Mannino stopped 26 of 27 and 2 of 8 in the shootout for first star honors.

SendToNews Highlights: Are here.

Pens can get back to second in the division tomorrow with the rematch vs. the Bears at 4:05. Gameday for this will be up at noon Sunday.

Let’s Go Pens!!!

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2                                               6

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Snow kept me away from Binghamton tonight. I am sick of driving in it, dealing with it, shoveling it and worrying about it.

It was probably a good thing. Pens get throttled on the Southern Tier tonight and lose 6-2. Binghamton scores four power play goals, a shorthanded goal and an even strength goal after a Penguin turnover in the defensive zone and that was all she wrote.

You could say that the defensive zone turnover in the first period sealed the fate for the Penguins. Or, you could say that the B-Sens AHL leading 15th shorthanded goal soon after did because after that, the Pens never mounted much of a comeback.

Eric Hartzell opposed Andrew Hammond.

Penguins got Jayson Megna back (last game played November 23) Adam Payerl back (last game played November 30) and Brian Gibbons (last game played December 14) – Spencer Machacek was back too, from his minor lower-body whatever it was last weekend.

The healthiest and deadliest Wilkes-Barre / Scranton lineup since the start of the season would fare well against the B-Sens who had lost 3 of their last 4, right?

It didn’t mean a thing.

Mark Stone got the party started in the first period, cutting to the net and receiving an Andre Petersson pass on the back door to put the Sens up 1-0 on the power play.

Then, 1:08 later, Spencer Machacek would hack and whack a rebound on a Simon Despres shot from the point for a tie game.

Pens returned with a furious flurry against Hammond, but he didn’t break. Then Brendan Mikkelson tries to exit his own zone, Mark Stone picks his pocket, feeds Corey Cowick on a 2 on 1 with Scott Harrington back for a 2-1 Binghamton lead.

Penguins get a power play. Momentum changer right, No! You’re wrong! Jean-Gabriel Pageau skates in and scores to make it 3-1 Binghamton.

That would end Hartzell’s night. You really couldn’t fault him. Beat back door on a deadly Binghamton power play. D-zone gaffe leads to a 2 on 1 then a shorthanded goal against. Jeff Deslauriers would replace him.

Didn’t help. Mike Hoffman waits out a Wilkes-Barre body and fires through a crowd for a 4-1 Binghamton lead for another power play goal.

And this was just the first period. The four goals allowed were the most allowed by the Penguins in a period.

Second period didn’t offer much. Mike Carman had a shorthanded bid denied.

Third period. Penguins parade to the power play continued. All legitimate calls tonight by referee Dave Lewis. Bobby Farnham took a tripping penalty then as soon as that was killed, Simon Despres took a high sticking one. Cole Schneider slammed home a fluttering puck to extinguish any hopes of yet another third period comeback for Wilkes-Barre.

Footnotes. Tom Kostopoulos scored his 11th power play goal of the season for a 5-2 lead. Mike Hofffman responds and scores another power play goal for the B-Sens, their fourth power play of the night, and that ended it.

Three stars were Stephane Da Costa (two assists) Andrew Hammond (33 saves on 35 shots) and Mike Hoffman (two goals, assist)

Pens aren’t getting any help from behind them. Hershey wins in a shootout in Atlantic City 3-2 over the Albany Devils and Norfolk wins 2-0 against Syracuse at home.

Standings are Binghamton 64, Penguins 61, Hershey 60, Norfolk 60, Syracuse 44.

Conference has Manchester running away with it with 71 points, Springfield 67, Binghamton 64, Penguins and Providence tied with 61, Hershey and Norfolk with 60 and St. John’s rounding out the top 8 with 59 points.

Good news in the organization as the Nailers win 4-2 against Reading. Denver Manderson had two goals.

SendToNews highlights are here.

Pens now travel to Hershey for second place in the division. Saying that a better effort is needed is a huge understatement.

Gameday for that will be up at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Let’s Go Pens!